Skip to main content
Log in

Some Aspects of Assessing the Radiation Situation under Nominal NPP Emissions

  • Environmental Problems
  • Published:
Herald of the Russian Academy of Sciences Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The results of assessing the radiation situation under nominal NPP emissions are presented. A decrease in the activity of normalized nominal emissions from NPPs with PWR reactors (the domestic analogue is VVER) over the past 50 years is shown. The annual activity of nominal emissions from nuclear power plants with various types of reactors is significantly lower compared to the formation of radionuclides in the environment owing to natural processes and their input during global and emergency fallouts, as well as the reprocessing of spent nuclear fuel at radiochemical plants. The indicators of the radiation situation in the zone of nominal NPP emissions are predicted by the example of the Leningrad NPP-2. It has been established that the highest volumetric activity of radionuclides in the daily emission cloud is likely at a distance of 1–2 km from the plant. Over the 60 years of the NPP’s operation, the 137Cs input into the soil should not have exceeded 6 Bq/m2, which is almost two mathematical orders of magnitude lower than the content from global fallout. In the zone of a nominal emission, additional external exposure will not exceed 2% relative to the natural radiation background.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1.
Fig. 2.
Fig. 3.
Fig. 4.

Similar content being viewed by others

REFERENCES

  1. World nuclear generation and capacity. https://www.nei.org/resources/statistics/world-nuclear-generation-and-capacity. Cited November 23, 2020.

  2. https://www.rosatom.ru/production/generation/. Cited November 23, 2023.

  3. Major Radiation Accidents: Consequences and Protective Measures, Ed. by L. A. Il’in and V. A. Gubanov (IzdAt, Moscow, 2001) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  4. The Fukushima Daiichi Accident, Technical Vol. 4: Radiological Consequences (International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, 2015).

  5. Radioecological Situation in the Regions Where Rosatom Enterprises Are Located, Ed. by I. I. Linge and I. I. Kryshev (SAM Poligrafist, Moscow, 2015) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  6. The Radiation Situation on the Territory of Russia and Neighboring States in 2019 (Rosgidromet, NPO Taifun, Obninsk, 2020) [in Russian].

  7. Monitoring of Natural and Agricultural Ecosystems in Areas Where Nuclear Power Plants Are Located, Ed. by S. V. Fesenko, Ser. Tr. FGBNU VNIIRAE (FGBNU VNIIRAE, Obninsk, 2020), Vol. 3 [in Russian].

  8. L. I. Boltneva, B. A. Ionov, Z. V. Kuznetsov, and I. M. Nazarov, “Regional pattern in the distribution of natural radioactive elements in the territory of the Soviet Union,” in Background Radioactivity of Soils and Rocks on USSR Territory: Proceedings of the Institute for Applied Geophysicists (Gidrometeoizdat, Moscow, 1980), pp. 37–55 [in Russian].

  9. V. F. Drichko, B. E. Krisyuk, I. G. Travnikova, et al., “Frequency distribution of the concentrations of radium-226, thorium-228, and potassium-40 in different soils,” Pochvovedenie, No. 9, 75–80 (1977).

    Google Scholar 

  10. A. N. Perevolotskii and T. V. Perevolotskaya, “On the content of 40K, 226Ra, and 232Th in forest soils of the Republic of Belarus,” Radiats. Biol. Radioekol. 54 (2), 193–200 (2014).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. A. N. Perevolotskii, Radiation and ecological situation in forest biogeocenoses (dynamics, factors, forecast), Doctoral (Biol.) Dissertation (Obninsk, 2013).

  12. U. Ya. Margulis, Nuclear Energy and Radiation Safety (Energoizdat, Moscow, 1984) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  13. Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation: Report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation to the General Assembly with Scientific Annexes, Vol. 1, Scientific Annex B: Exposure of the Public and Workers from Various Sources of Radiation (United Nations, New York, 2008).

  14. Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation: Report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation to the General Assembly with Scientific Annexes, Vol. 1, Scientific Annex B: Radiation Exposures from Electricity Generation (United Nations, New York, 2016).

  15. T. V. Perevolotskaya, A. N. Perevolotskii, and S. I. Spiri-donov, “Cluster analysis to assess radiation impacts of nominal NPP discharges on biota,” Radiats. Risk 27 (1), 43–52 (2018).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation: Report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation to the General Assembly with Scientific Annexes, Vol. 1, Scientific Annex B: Exposures to Natural Radiation Sources (United Nations, New York, 1982).

  17. Sources and Effects of Ionizing Radiation: Report of the United Nations Scientific Committee on the Effects of Atomic Radiation to the General Assembly with Scientific Annexes, Vol. 1, Scientific Annex C: Exposures to the Public from Man-Made Sources of Radiation (United Nations, New York, 2000).

  18. Yu. A. Izrael’, Radioactive Fallout after Nuclear Explosions and Accidents (Progress-Pogoda, St. Petersburg, 1996) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  19. N. G. Gusev and V. A. Belyaev, Radioactive Emissions in the Biosphere (Energoatomizdat, Moscow, 1991) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  20. T. V. Perevolotskaya and A. N. Perevolotskii, “Analysis of the long-term yearly average volumetric activity of radionuclides and the yearly absorbed dose in the surface air with continuous radioactive emissions (for Leningrad NPP-2),” Atomic Energy 128 (3), 177–181 (2020).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  21. V. F. Kozlov, Radiation Safety Handbook (Energoatomizdat, Moscow, 1991) [in Russian].

  22. A. N. Perevolotskii and T. V. Perevolotskaya, “Evaluation of the radionuclide fallout density on the earth’s surface in different variants of the calculation of the meteorological dilution parameters,” Atomic Energy 126 (5), 320–324 (2019).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  23. ICRP, 2020. Dose coefficients for external exposure to environmental sources. ICRP Publication 144, Ann. ICRP 49 (2) (2020).

  24. K. Winger, J. Feichter, M. B. Kalinowski, et al., “A new compilation of the atmospheric 85Kr inventories from 1945 to 2000 and its evaluation in a global transport model,” J. Env. Rad. 80 (3), 183–215 (2005).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  25. E. G. Tertyshnik and A. T. Korsakov, “The rate of accumulation of 85Kr in the atmosphere,” Atomnaya Energiya, No. 4, 267–271 (1990).

    Google Scholar 

  26. P. Achim, S. Generoso, and M. Morin, “Characterization of Xe-133 global atmospheric background: Implications for the Int. Monitoring System of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty,” J. Geophys. Res.: Atmospheres 121 (5), 4951–4966 (2016).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. M. Tomasek and L. Wilhelmova, “Development of 85Kr atmospheric activity and comparison with prognosis,” J. Radioanal. Nucl. Chem. 218 (1), 119–121 (1997).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  28. V. E. Sokolov, D. A. Krivolutskii, and V. L. Usachev, Wild Animals in Global Radioecological Monitoring (Nauka, Moscow, 1989) [in Russian].

    Google Scholar 

  29. R. M. Aleksakhin and M. A. Naryshkin, Migration of Radionuclides in Forest Biogeocenoses (Nauka, Moscow, 1977) [in Russia].

    Google Scholar 

  30. Radiation Medicine, in 4 vols., Vol. 3: Radiation Hygiene, Ed. by L. A. Il’in (IzdAt, Moscow, 2002) [in Russian].

  31. K. Saito and P. Jacob, “Gamma ray fields in the air due to sources in the ground,” Radiat. Prot. Dosimetry 58, 29–45 (1995).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  32. K. Saito and N. Petoussi-Henss, “Ambient dose equivalent conversion coefficients for radionuclides exponentially distributed in the ground,” J. Nucl. Sci. Tech. 51 (10), 1274–1287 (2014).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  33. V. P. Ramzaev and A. N. Barkovskii, “To the question of the relationship between the ambient dose equivalent and the absorbed dose in air under conditions of environmental contamination with radioactive cesium,” Radiats. Gigiena, No. 3, 6–20 (2015).

    Google Scholar 

  34. L. I. Boltneva, Yu. A. Izrael’, B. A. Ionov, and I. M. Na-zarov, “Global 137Cs and 90Sr contamination and external radiation doses on the territory of the USSR,” Atomnaya Energiya 42 (5), 355–360 (1977).

    CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to A. N. Perevolotskii or T. V. Perevolotskaya.

Additional information

Translated by B. Alekseev

Aleksandr Nikolaevich Perevolotskii, Dr. Sci. (Biol.), is a Leading Researcher at the Laboratory of Mathematical Modeling and Software and Information Support at the Russian Institute of Radiology and Agroecology (RIRAE). Tat’yana Vital’evna Perevolotskaya, Cand. Sci. (Biol.), is an Associate Professor and a Senior Researcher at the same RIRAE laboratory.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Perevolotskii, A.N., Perevolotskaya, T.V. Some Aspects of Assessing the Radiation Situation under Nominal NPP Emissions. Her. Russ. Acad. Sci. 91, 482–491 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331621040079

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1134/S1019331621040079

Keywords:

Navigation